No: 139, 4 May 2017, Press Release Regarding The Signing Of The Memorandum On The Creation Of De-escalation Areas In Syria

Republic Of Turkey Ministry Of Foreign Affairs 04.05.2017

The fourth round of Astana meetings, which were initiated to consolidate
the country-wide ceasefire declared on 30 December 2016, to support the
efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict and to develop
confidence building measures to be adopted by the conflicting parties in
Syria, was held on 3-4 May 2017.

A Memorandum on the creation of de-escalation areas in Idlib province and
certain parts of Latakia, Aleppo and Hama provinces; in certain parts of
Homs province; in Eastern Ghouta/Damascus and in certain parts of Deraa and
Al-Quneitra provinces was signed by the Republic of Turkey, the Russian
Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran, as guarantors of the ceasefire
regime.

Operational and technical issues related to the delineation of the lines of
the de-escalation areas as well as to their administration will be tackled
by the Joint Working Group to be formed among the three Guarantors.

We welcome this Memorandum which stipulates cessation of hostilities
between the conflicting parties with the use of any kind of weapons,
including aerial assets, and provision of urgent and unhindered
humanitarian access in the above-mentioned areas.

Turkey will actively continue its efforts to ensure the effective
implementation of this Memorandum with a view to consolidating the current
ceasefire regime, thereby improving the situation on the ground, which
ultimately would help, on the one hand, facilitating the advancement of the
political process while on the other hand, meeting the security and
humanitarian needs of Syrians in their own country.